What is TeX?

TeX (pronounced "teck") is a text formatting program, created by Donald Knuth. At Indiana University Bloomington, TeX version 3.14159 is available on Quarry.

Any editor or word processing program that can create ASCII files can create TeX files. Inserting TeX commands into an ASCII file allows for more control over sophisticated document formats and provides many typesetting features such as ligatures and kerning. TeX offers the complex mathematical formula and technical writing symbols, as well as the characters used in most languages based on a Latin alphabet, in a wide variety of fonts.

TeX processes an ASCII file containing TeX commands and produces a device independent binary file called a DVI file. To produce hard copy or a screen display of the DVI file, you need a printer or screen driver program. To create the DVI file, at the Unix prompt, enter:

Replace filename with any valid filename, although it is customary to give it the extension .tex, in which case it is not necessary to type the extension. If the filename does not include the extension .tex , you will have to type out the full filename.

The program creates a log recording the error messages and results of the processing. The list file has the same filename but has the extension .lis . The DVI file has the same first name, but with the extension .dvi . Processing messages and errors are also written to the screen by default.

Related programs

LaTeX and AmS-TeX are two macro packages that simplify the process of creating document formats in TeX. All UITS central systems that have TeX also have LaTeX. LaTeX is the more popular of the two, and the AmS-TeX macros are available as a LaTeX-compatible package called amsmath.

Using LaTeX and AmS-TeX is similar to using TeX. If you wish to process a file that is written using LaTeX macros, then instead of entering tex, you should enter:

Replace filename with a filename of your choosing. Here filename is assumed to have the tex extension. However, sometimes LaTeX files have the extension .ltx or .latex .

Note: Processing a LaTeX file with the tex command will not work.

Often, when using LaTeX, you will have to repeat this command twice for LaTeX to completely process the file. That is, twice in a row, enter:

As with TeX, the list file is called filename.lis , and the DVI file is called filename.dvi .

Alternatively, if you wish to process an AmS-TeX file, you should enter:

Replace filename with a filename of your choosing. Here filename is assumed to have the .tex extension.

Lastly, BiBTeX is a popular bibliographic citation package often used in conjunction with TeX.

More information

For more information about TeX and LaTeX, you can view the manual page and GNU documentation. At the Unix prompt, enter:

You can also find additional information, macros, and software on the web, at the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN).

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